


vigilante

by floraltohru



Category: Fruits Basket, Fruits Basket (Anime 2019), Fruits Basket - Takaya Natsuki (Manga)
Genre: Comedy, F/M, Female Friendship, Fluff, Or The Prince Yuki Fan Club For That Matter, Rescue Missions, Tohru Honda Does Not Fear God
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:27:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25249171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/floraltohru/pseuds/floraltohru
Summary: Machi finds herself cornered. Tohru orchestrates a rescue mission.----“Isn’t that Yuki’s girlfriend?” Tohru follows the jerk of his chin down the hallway and promptly panics.It is, in fact, Yuki’s girlfriend. It is Yuki’s girlfriend surrounded by a certain feral fan club.
Relationships: Honda Tohru & Kuragi Machi, Honda Tohru/Sohma Kyou, Kuragi Machi/Sohma Yuki
Comments: 56
Kudos: 337





	vigilante

In no particular order, what follows are a number of facts about Kyo Sohma as concluded by his openly adoring girlfriend, fellow third-year Tohru Honda: 

  1. He doesn’t actually hate cats. 
  2. He doesn’t actually hate Yuki, either, though he wouldn’t admit it on pain of death.
  3. He cries at romantic comedies.
  4. The combination of his height and the fact that he works out at the dojo upwards of three days a week makes him arguably objectively sexy and kind of intimidating.
  5. Which is about to come in really handy.



They're meandering through the school building just after the final bell, but almost everyone else is gone. He forgot to remind her to grab her bag from their last class, but now their recon operation is complete and they're heading home with  _ all of their belongings this time, are you sure, did you check? _

At least, that was the plan. 

“Isn’t that Yuki’s girlfriend?” Tohru follows the jerk of his chin down the hallway and promptly panics. 

It is, in fact, Yuki’s girlfriend. It is Yuki’s girlfriend surrounded by a certain feral fan club. 

Tohru mumbles something under her breath that Kyo thinks  _ might _ be a swear word, and he makes a mental note to chastise Arisa Uotani for her terrible, terrible influence. 

For someone who’s normally so rosy and chipper, in this moment, Tohru sort of looks like she could commit an act of arson. Again, Kyo might have to give Arisa a stern talking-to. 

Tohru is no stranger to the fan club girls, of course. In fact, she’s more acquainted with them than she’d like to be. They’ve been after her since her first year, convinced that she’s an evil temptress out to bespell their precious prince. 

Clearly, they’ve never seen her actual attempts to flirt. Cute? Absolutely. Alluring? Certainly.  _ Seductress? _ Kyo would have to say probably not. 

He wondered if some part of her derived a little bit of glee out of the fact that they were so fixated on her relationship with Yuki. Probably not; there's not actually a mean bone in her body. Sometimes, he had to confess, it was kind of fun to watch. 

Right now, though, it might prove to be a pain in the ass. 

“Where are you going?” he asks, exasperated, as she takes off down the hall, fists balled at her side.

It’s too late. She’s already gone, and his words meet empty air. 

“Kuragi-san!” she calls, waving a hand over her head enthusiastically. 

Kyo has seen enough nature documentaries to recognize what happens when a predator spots easy prey. Their ears perk up and the hunting pack swivels in unison, narrowed eyes trained, now, on his girlfriend. 

She’s perfectly capable of fighting her own battles, but Kyo will keep an eye on things from here in case he needs to de-escalate. 

Kyo might need to de-escalate. For now, though, he can watch at a safe distance. Is this what those photographers feel like with their telephoto lenses, hiding out in the bushes as a lion crouches in anticipation of ripping apart an antelope?

Who knows. 

“Hi, Honda-san,” Machi says, offering her best attempt at a smile from where she’s pressed up against the wall, cornered. 

“Kinoshita-san,” Tohru says, dipping her head politely despite the fact that Kyo can see her eyes  _ blazing _ from here. “Yamagishi-san.” 

“Honda-san,” one of them seethes, but Kyo can’t be bothered to actually remember her name. She’s the one with pigtails. 

“Stay out of it,” the other one says, the one with the short hair. She’s rewarded with a swift elbow to the ribs from the older girl. 

“We just have a few questions for Kuragi-san,” Pigtails tells her. 

Short Hair nods, rubbing at the tender spot in her side. “Yeah. A few questions.” 

Tohru sets her hand on her forehead, sighing deeply. Kyo admits, it’s a pretty convincing act. “Oh, I’m so sorry to be rude. But Yuki actually needs Kuragi-san to come back to the student council room right away. It's an emergency.”

The risk she took was calculated but man, was she bad at math. 

Instead of pulling Machi out, Tohru gets yanked in, drawn under by a strong current. 

Now, they’re all talking at once - Pigtails is giving Tohru the third-degree while Short Hair chastises Machi for  _ something _ , and the din from the end of the hallway is probably going to draw the attention of a teacher if it keeps up. 

There’s a tiny, barely-there voice in the back of Kyo’s head that really  _ really _ hopes Mayuko-sensei will step out of one of the classrooms and the little gang will disperse. 

On second thought, he doesn’t want Tohru to get caught in the crosshairs of a rogue water bucket. He shudders, remembering a long, damp walk to the dojo after his fight with Haru. 

Yeah, no, maybe it’s better if Mayu leaves them all to fend for themselves. 

Tohru could definitely get herself out of this, Kyo thinks. She broke a centuries-old curse with just her wits and spirit and - is that a blush he feels creeping in? - the power of true love. 

However, he’s starting to get hungry and if he doesn’t eat soon he’s going to get  _ hangry _ so it’s probably going to be best for everyone involved - fan club girls included - if he does his part to put a stop to the whole ordeal. 

That really doesn’t mean he wants to. 

With a deep, put-upon sigh, Kyo starts down the hall, drawing himself up to his full height once he’s behind Yuki’s little cluster of admirers. 

Tohru catches his eye with a glint that suggests conspiracy, and he clears his throat. 

“Hey.” 

The way they squeak and stiffen isn't quite as dramatic as when Hanajima does her… whatever she does with the waves  _ thing. _ So that’s kind of annoying. But it’s still pretty impressive. 

“Tohru. Is there a problem?” 

“No, actually, we were just leaving!” She laces her fingers through Machi’s and holds up their intertwined hands, then politely nudges her way through the still-rigid fan club girls. 

Once she’s a safe distance away, she even offers them a polite wave. 

“Come on,” Kyo says, wrapping his arm around Tohru’s shoulder. “Yuki’s waiting for us.” 

Tohru shoots him a clandestine smile, and as much as he’s enjoying the ruse, he’s also just now noticing how appealing her lip gloss looks. 

Machi pauses to catch her breath once they turn down the corner. 

“Are you alright?” Tohru asks. “Those girls can be pretty intense.” 

Machi nods. “Yes, thank you, Honda-san. I think they’re mostly just annoying.” 

Tohru leans in, brow furrowed in concern. “Do they do that to you often?” 

“Pretty much every day.” 

Of course Machi would have to deal with the fan club girls on a regular basis. Of course they would single her out, drag her around, interrogate her in the halls. Of course she would have become Public Enemy Number One the moment she and Yuki made their relationship official.  _ Of course. _

It pisses Kyo off, quite frankly. They’d better keep that shit far, far away from him. 

“I’m so sorry,” Tohru says. 

Machi shrugs. “It’s not a big deal. Usually I just try to play dead when they’re like that.” 

Tohru’s laughter is bright and musical where it bounces off the walls of the abandoned hall, and Kyo notices that Machi seems taken aback, but then quietly pleased to have elicited such a reaction. 

“Thank you for the rescue,” Machi says. 

“Of course!” 

"I'm glad I don't have a fan club." Kyo scrubs a hand through his hair. Wouldn't that be a nightmare? 

"Oh," Machi says flatly. "You don't know?" 

His brain short-circuits before he can fully process what she's saying. 

“Machi?” a voice at the other end of the hall sends all three of them whipping around, but it’s just Yuki. 

“Hi.” 

He notices Kyo and Tohru a millisecond later, and his smile widens. “You should’ve told me we were having a party out here. I would’ve brought snacks.” 

Machi blushes scarlet when he slings an arm around her shoulder and leans in to deposit a messy kiss on her cheek. 

“Quit it,” she mumbles, kicking at his shins. 

“Machi, ow,” he says, and when she flails her arms at him he steps behind her and pins them to her sides to keep her immobile, smiling smugly when he rests his chin on top of her head. 

It’s cute, maybe, Kyo thinks. But in, like, a weird way. 

“Did you have any plans for dinner?” Yuki asks Tohru, bringing one hand up to tug at a lock of Machi’s hair. 

She shrugs. “I have everything to make soumen but I don’t have to do it tonight.” 

“Alright. Then let’s go somewhere.” 

“Okay,” Tohru brightens, taking Kyo's hand. When he squeezes it, she squeezes back.

Yuki tells some hare brained student council anecdote with assistance from Machi's occasional deadpan as he leads them out of the school building and into the afternoon sun. 

For a while they just wander, no place in mind. The part of Kyo that gets anxious when there's no set plan in place is quelled by the part that reminds him that it's alright. 

He's got all the time in the world. 

**Author's Note:**

> this was fun to write! and maybe a little weird, who knows!
> 
> i truly feel we were robbed of their third year shenanigans so. here. have some. 
> 
> i'm on tumblr! and twitter! @floraltohru! i mostly don't bite!


End file.
